Chief Ladiga - Northeastern Alabama

Deanne and I began our Chief Ladiga experience at the Woodland Park trailhead at the southwestern end just outside Weaver, AL, home of the Bobcats. Without seeing a bobcat, we started our ride on a clear, mild morning and right away found ourselves immersed in sensory overload. Olfactory, aural, and visual were pegged with Sweet Jasmine, birdsong and sightings, and forrested canopy.

I imagine there could have been as much as a couple hundred feet change in elevation spread over the length of the trail, but the slow, gentle gradient kept the hint of a hill comfortably secret. There was so much natural beauty to consume that it was difficult to notice such things as the relatively narrow pavement compared to many other trails.

The people we encountered on the trail were quite friendly and readily engaged in interested conversation, of course it could have been because we were the only recumbent riders out this fine Tuesday. Germania Springs, in Jacksonville, made an ideal rest spot for us, both coming and going. The peaceful little park with sports and picnic facilities seemed to offer something for everyone, birds and chipmunks
alike. Lounging on the grassy banks of the crystal clear stream had a real story book feel.

Riding high on a carefully banked railbed with a shear drop on either side down to a rock creek gives one the feeling of flying through the upper trunks of very tall trees that let light fracture its way to the trail's surface.

East of Piedmont, the trail is exposed to longer views of the surrounding hills including Duggar Mountain, then begins a climb in that direction carved through some rock face alongside Terrapin Creek. The pavement ended at, and cyclists rested on, the bridge over this waterway, where we visited, looked longingly eastward at the gravel double track disappearing up the slope, and talked of the Silver Comet which picks up this trail's scent in Georgia and takes the traveler on to Smyrna.

On the advice of wise locals met on Terrapin Creek, we stopped in at the Solid Rock Cafe, just two blocks off the trail in the center of Piedmont, for lunch and enjoyed chicken salad croissant, potato soup, and a painfully delicious peach smoothie!

We hadn't really thought of completing the entire paved portion nor of having such a terrific lunch, but were nonetheless very well served by the coincident tailwind that helped us back to Germania Springs and then to the beginning. At 49 miles round trip, this was certainly one of our longer outings. Photos are in the gallery.

Trail condition - Excellent
Facilities - Excellent
Vista - Gorgeous!
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